Moon & Venus

The moon, Venus, and Jupiter have been in excellent alignment over the last few weeks, culminating in their closest positions on 15th March. I saw that, but only got the camera out on 26th. Really, I need a longer lens to capture the moon at a decent size (something 750mm or longer, for frame-filling splendour), and my longest lens is only 125mm (and I don't have a tele-adaptor). I hanker after Sigma's 150-500 OS lens, and occasionally borrow Philip's 100-400 Canon (which is beautiful, but shorter and more expensive than the Sigma). I'd also love a proper telescope with camera adapter, admittedly.

Never mind: cropped, a shot of Moon and Venus (Jupiter's now sunk down towards the horizon):

Silence

We've had a couple of difficult weeks, and so I've not been posting. Partly malaise, partly nothing to say.

The biomass installation, which was basically complete by 3rd March, hasn't been a success. The installation had a number of pitfalls, which we managed, but the system isn't working as expected. The log boiler's fuel consumption is much, much higher than expected: although I'd got figures for efficiency in advance, and worked on the basis of a figure reduced from this (which seemed wise!), the actual in-use efficiency has so far been about 55%, instead of an expectation of at least 80%.

This poses a real problem: it means that our per year wood use rockets up by 50%, which takes it out of the realm of straightforward, and into logistical nightmare. It also hits the cash saving per year quite hard, and also makes the day-to-day operation difficult (physically larger volume of wood each day requiring loading, and we're not in the house all day to keep topping it up).

Secondly, the delivery side seems less effective than the oil system. That is, where the oil system burnt, say, 100kWh worth of oil for a day's heating, the biomass is using, say, 110kWh on a comparable day. This is after the heat's been produced (measured by a proper, Class 2, heat meter). So, in all, we're looking at a system that's about 50% efficient compared to about 90% for the oil. Not good.

The only saving grace, at this point, is that we haven't paid the full invoice, only the deposit, so we still have a lever when dealing with the installer. However, at the moment, we simply can't process, season, and store enough wood for a winter, so the whole system's not fit for purpose: we may well have to rely on an oil backup, which we didn't want.

In brighter news, when we haven't been madly cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood, we have managed to sow plenty of seeds, and now have a lot of baby beetroot, leeks, peas, celeriac, salad leaves and radishes. The kale, sprouts, parsnips, and carrots aren't up, yet, but there you go.

The over-winter alliums (onions, garlic, elephant garlic, and spring onions) are all still doing well, and look they're starting to bulk up. That's pleasing, as we're going to start running low on last year's autumn-harvest onions soon.

The spring bulbs are doing nicely, with lots of scilla and puschkinia up now. The daffodils are starting to come out in force: there are just about enough to start cutting some to bring inside. The 'winterized' front garden's looking great; we're very pleased with it. The dogwoods, hellebores, primroses, and the winter hanging baskets (heathers, sedge and cineraria) have really made it look good. The clematis outside the kitchen door is coming back up, too, and the buddleja is sprouting. Some of the early tulips ('Pinocchio') are up, too, though the Cheerfulness daffodils aren't.

Deer on the Hillside

This morning's visitors (© Ian 2012)

Wood and Seeds

We spent Friday splitting and stacking wood, with medium efficacy; Jenny and Philip's current foster children also left, so we spent some time with them. Saturday and today has been more wood; stacking some pre-prepared wood, and sawing/splitting/stacking fresh wood. We're getting the hang of it: today's work was quite effective. We've planted more seeds—so far we've got plenty of leeks, beetroot, beans, peas, and now some celeriac and tomatoes in.

We had a brief interlude mopping up after a leak in the airing cupboard, which came through the kitchen ceiling, too...

Back to work tomorrow!

Gorse

Another day in the garden; this time clearing a gorse that's outside the dining room window. We cut it down a while ago (September '09, I think), but never finished the job. We have, now, though it took an effort to get the three sets of roots out. While I struggled with those, Liz has started ploughing through the neighbouring cotoneaster, and we've made good progress.

Before/during clearing the gorse and cotoneaster (© Ian 2012)

Outside the workshop door, there are a couple of tiny beds (mostly gravel, it has to be said), which have some thorny horrors in them. Unattractive, and irritating. We have, therefore, removed them. I'm not actually certain what they were, and don't really mind. I'm going, at some stage, to build the walls of the beds up a bit, so there's more depth, and then we can plant some blackberry cultivars we ordered. For now, they're in pots in the space.

In the newly found space, we've planted some oriental lilies and three hemerocallis ('Calico Jack', 'Destined to See', and 'Tigger').

Mushrooms

We've had a day in the garden, while the biomass system continues to be installed.

The remaining green manure in the kitchen garden has been chopped and dug in, in preparation for planting the beds over the next month or so. We moved a few more bags of leaf-mould, which I collected at the weekend, down to the 'compost area': we were donated several plastic composters by a neighbour, which we'll use to store the leafmould, when we get round to siting them and transferring the leaves.

Next to the coal-bunker outside the back door, there's a small triangular bed (with sides of about 3 foot) which has had a sorry looking holly growing in it since we arrived. It's never looked attractive: stunted, poorly leafed, and dismal. I dug it out this morning, and wasn't surprised to find that it's been struggling from a shallow bed: probably only a foot deep, with loads of gravel in it. We've topped up the soil with some compost, planted a red-stemmed bamboo: Fargesia scabrida 'Asian Wonder'. It's meant to like a sheltered spot, part shade or sun, so hopefully it'll thrive. It should, when it gets to its mature height, be more attractive than the holly—and productive, too.

We also took one of the poplar logs, which I'd had cut to a two-foot length, and implanted it with oyster mushroom impregnated dowels. In about six months, it should yield a crop of tasty mushrooms, and then continue doing so every six months for a few years. A medium-term project, but hopefully a successful addition to the food we grow.

Delivery

The biomass installation started today: the oil boiler is now offline (and partly disconnected); the old hot water cylinder is out; the new accumulator tank (enormous) is roughly in position, and the boiler itself is on a pallet in the garage.

We've had nothing to do with this, admittedly, and have, instead, cleaned the house, and switched the beds around, so that the spare divan in the garage (which has drawers built into it) has replaced the one in the guest room (which doesn't). This has been something we've been planning for ages, and means we have much more storage space for things like second duvets—unfortunately, I think it's immediately filled.

Long-Standing Task

Finally, after sixteen months, I have put the divider on the floor join between the kitchen and utility room. In my defence, the strip was slightly too thick, which (when I looked into it) was mainly because the door's hinges are so worn that the door was hanging about a quarter-inch too low. I have now replaced the worn hinges (adding a third, in fact), and the divider has gone down effortlessly. We've also sorted out the garage, ready for the installation of the biomass boiler, which starts tomorrow.

Squills

I've spent most of the day, and yesterday, splitting poplar, ready to season. It's going reasonably well, and I've cut a couple of trugs-worth into kindling, too. While I was outside, I noticed that the first of the squills (Scilla siberica) are about to flower. The daffs, puschkinia, and tulips are all also up and getting buds; the crocuses are flowering too.

Spring's almost upon us!

Stove

We've had the new stove installed on Friday. It's a Dunsley Yorkshire woodburner, and we hope it's going to mean the sitting room can be made nice and toasty, without having to turn up the whole house's heating. Some before/during/after photos!

The open fire (© Ian 2012)

With fire basket, accessories, and canopy removed (© Ian 2012)

With stove installed! (© Ian 2012)

We've since put the bits and pieces back, and stacked some wood in the inglenook, and tonight lit the first fire in it. The first few are meant to be on the small side, as the paint cures, the firebricks dry out, and the seals firm up. The fire cement also needed 48 hours to dry, but fortunately we've had the weekend at Alan and Ann's, in Newmarket, so we were away and couldn't be tempted to light a fire.

It was a really enjoyable weekend, too: plenty of board games (Cities & Knights, and Alhambra), a good film (Inception), and good food. It's been a while since we've seen them (October, I think), and it was good to catch up. We called in on Rachel and Philip for lunch on the way home, which was a nice opportunity to see their new house again (we called in briefly a fortnight ago). They've adopted a couple of old rugs, and a garden table, from us: it's good to see them in use.

Also on Friday, we had the partition wall that separates the boiler room from the garage taken down. Having decided on a biomass boiler, we needed to make access to fit the accumulator tank (2000l, and 150cm in diameter, 220cm tall) into the boiler room: it wouldn't go through the existing doorway. I attempted to take the breeze-block wall down, but it wasn't happening (the mortar was much stronger than needed). Builder's cut-off saw made short work of it (his more muscular frame probably helped, too). I need to make a 'hatch' in the garage ceiling, because the access between joists is limited to about 40cm, and an expansion tank will be going in the loft space. My plan is to make a 80cm square opening, which will only entail cutting one joist, but that's for later this week.

More stove reports when we've had a chance to try it out properly...

Cider Press

We've had a really good weekend, with a visit to my parents', time with Liz's, and some sorting at home. Being my birthday, there was also plenty of lovely food, and a few presents. My sister gave me some Nerines (Nerine bowdenii), my parents gave me a foraging book ("The Thrifty Forager" by Alys Fowler) and a bee hotel (which will go up in the copse soon). Liz and her parents joined forces to find me an apple press, which I've wanted for some time. It'll be a useful way of dealing with the apple glut, either as cider, or a bottled and pasteurized juice.

New 12l cider/apple press (© Ian 2012)

A couple of bags of cheap apples were ready for a first try-out: ten apples yielded about 500ml of juice, and very easily. It would actually be easier with more fruit—the pressing plate had to have a lot of spacers on top of it, because ten apples is a very small proportion of the press capacity. That said, the juice itself was delicious. It browned quickly (we hadn't added citric/ascorbic acid to the bucket), but that doesn't affect the flavour.

Roll on autumn!

Sous Vide Venison

On Friday/Saturday, we were visiting Katherine in Cambridge, who took us to eat at High Table at Pembroke College. I've not eaten so well in years. It was a fantastic menu, in a beautiful setting, and we had a great time.

The menu:

Pea and Coconut Velouté with a Coconut Foam

Smoked Salmon & Mozzarella Terrine

Venison with Caramelized Red Cabbage, Château Potatoes, and a Game Jus

Chocolate Fondant with Peanut Butter Ice-cream and Cumin Caramel

And we then retired to the fellows' parlour for artisan cheese and biscuits (a phenomenally good blue brie-type cheese, a really strong cheddar, something like a parmigiana, and a goat's cheese I didn't try), fruit, and chocolates, with a good port, a lovely Riesling, and a claret.

Pembroke's chef maintains a blog, Under Pressure at Pembroke, which depicts some of these lovely dishes. The sous vide cooked venison was the best venison I've had. I'm still revelling in it all.

We also, inevitably, had a wander: the Backs outside Trinity are looking good, although the crocuses aren't quite out yet.

Aconites outside Trinity College Cambridge (© Ian 2012) 

The Backs and Trinity College (© Ian 2012)

Back home on Saturday, and we've spent today cutting and sawing a load of wood Calderdale council dropped off. We already have too much wood to process, you might say. I'd agree: but we wanted to check this as a possible supply of biomass for wood central heating. Not bad, but not brilliant, in fact; quite a lot of softwood, and some stuff that was a real pain to split.

Poplars Down

On Friday, we had five of the over-grown poplars felled. Before, the garden looked like this:

Before felling (© Ian 2012)

And by Saturday morning, it looked like a timber yard.

And after (© Ian 2012)

We spent most of Saturday and today getting it tidied. The brush wood is now almost all on the existing heap of material for chipping (where the pond, one day, will be), and most of the wood is in four heaps: lots of uncut stuff on the garden drive, and three other heaps where the trees landed.
Poplar isn't fantastic woodfuel, but this is free, so I can't complain. We're seriously looking at getting a biomass boiler, and this would provide some starting firewood. If we don't, it's years' worth of stove fuel!

The three smaller trees were taken down sectionally, but the big two were straight drops (with a guide rope). Watching the biggest come down was quite a sight!

New Potato Varieties

New to us, that is. Our potatoes for 2012 have arrived, and are now sitting in egg boxes in the study, chitting.

We ordered 1.5kg of each of:

• Lady Christl: extra early. We really liked this, last year, and it yielded very well.
• Red Duke of York: early. New to us, but the yield is meant to be good, and I like having at least one red variety.
• Pentland Javelin: early. Not tried it before, but, again, meant to be a good yielder.
• Cara: maincrop. Druid, which we were impressed by last year, we couldn't get, but Cara's very similar.

We're going to maintain the spacings from last year for the earlies, but use the bigger spacing we trialled with Druid for the maincrop Cara. With Druid, doubling the space more than doubled the yield, which we were very happy with, so hopefully the same will apply.

Garage and Shed

A couple of days of sorting around the house. I've started building a store in the back porch, to help tidily store recycling and bin-related things. Almost there, but not quite. We've also had a major tidy up of the garage, sorting and 're-filing' my store of DIY wood, sifting through the odds and ends, and contemplating the shed.

The shed has been leaking all year, and is clearly starting to rot. We don't wish to replace it this moment (not clear what we want!), but it's in danger of letting its contents get damaged (lawnmowers, strimmers, and chainsaws don't like getting wet). So, we've moved a load of 'rubbish' and things that don't mind getting wet into the shed, and put the shed contents in the garage. We've also moved about a cubic metre of firewood out of the old coal cellar, in the garage: it needs splitting, but is seasoned. The divan that was in the garage is now in the study, ready to go into the guest room to replace the bed in there (which doesn't have drawers), and the large supply of rocksalt is now in the coal cellar.

The tree surgeon we've settled on is coming in a fortnight to drop the poplars, whereupon I will have a huge pile of wood to split and stack to dry. I think a new splitting maul might be required!

It's been a really cold weekend, with freezing fog today. For all that, the activity (lifting, carrying, sorting) has at least kept us warm.

Frosty spider's web (© Ian 2012)

Quilting

We managed to spend most of today on our leafy quilt, which will eventually go in our bedroom. I'll find a photo, but it's been nice to make progress. Sadly, it's the last day of our holiday, so part of the day was getting ready to return to work: lunch boxes, work bags, and bikes ready. Ah, well. It's been the longest break we've had in several years—since our honeymoon, we reckon—as a result of taking Friday 23rd off as well as our 'normal' Christmas break of a fortnight.

Roll on 2012...

To-Do List

Several days of working on a to-do list that we'd 'saved' until our holiday...

• The workshop's been tidied up, and I've installed the replacement bolts on the workshop and garage doors.
• We've made another batch of marmalade. This time we used two lemons and four oranges, which came to just under 0.75 pints of juice. You're meant to add 0.75pt of water (and 6lb sugar) to the Marmade tin; I reckon you should make at least two-thirds of this juice (half a pint), and potentially all of it. With this extra pectin, the boiling time was only about 12 minutes (not the 15 the tin calls for). I looks like another good batch!
• Another tree surgeon's been to look at the poplars.
• Our attempt to purchase the hill-side opposite the house has, sadly, come to naught. No great surprise, but we thought we'd enquire!
• It's been raining for about 48 hours, so we've had to put out buckets to catch the drips in Jenny and Philip's conservatory (they're away for another week).
• I've put a ceiling light in the middle of the dining room.
• I've replaced the light switch in the cellar with a waterproof one, as the wall often gets lots of condensation, which didn't feel safe.
• Liz has, with heavy heart, taken down the Christmas decorations.
• We've sorted out the Christmas fabrics (windowsill runners, tablecloths, etc), and finished hemming the tablecloth for the kitchen.
• Crushed and stored a big bunch of applemint that's been drying, ready for making tea.
• Found the divider for the floor between kitchen and utility room, and started thinning it down to fit.

Seed Bed

A number of vegetables need to be sown in one place and allowed to grow a bit, before being planted in their final location. Cauliflowers are one, along with leeks. However, some of them don't mind being outside for this stage of their life, and there are others (like early carrots) which can be sown under cover (but still outside) for an early crop. To do this, we've dug a pair of small beds (about 60cm by 2m) where the shed/greenhouse will one day go, built little brick/stone walls around them, and put glass on top of them. Coldframes or seed beds, whatever you call them, they'll now start drying out and warming up, ready for us to put plants in them over the coming months.

That took a fair bit of the morning, as it's been horrible weather (hail, rain, and wind), but this afternoon we managed to rack the three wines that are brewing: hedgerow, elder, and elderflower. They'll need another month or two, and then they can be bottled.

New Year Tasks

We've spent the last couple of days in Thirsk with my parents, for New Year's Eve and dad's birthday. Lovely and relaxing. On the way home, we found a new Christmas tree at Thirsk garden centre: ours is looking very sad, and has done for months. Despite potting it on, watering and feeding it, and keeping it watered and away from radiators while inside, it's totally failed to thrive. The new one, post-Christmas, was only £15, so even if it only makes it through Christmas 2012, it'll be cheaper than a cut tree.

Having got home, we've got a number of bits and pieces sorted out: I've replaced the wheels on the bikes, and cleaned the garden tools (including, this time, remembering to remove the blade from the lawnmower, so it doesn't get stuck like it did last winter).

We also did a spot of baking, as Cath and Jason are visiting tomorrow, and we wanted some goodies to toast on the fire. More muffins, teabread, and a mincemeat tart (not for toasting...).

Seeds

We've now placed our seed orders for next year: five, in total. I shan't list them here, but I'll put the plans on the kitchen garden page at some point, along with variety details. We've also got some way with the activity plan for the year—as normal, March and April are hectic, with lots and lots to sow and plant. We think there's enough space on windowsills, but I always worry.

The Daft Cat (Domino) managed to hurt his leg (probably a fight), and has been, reluctantly (read: with claws) allowing us to examine him. I think it'll heal soundly, having been caught early, cleaned, and dressed. He still seems happy to eat cream, though.

Domino with Cream (© Ian 2011)

Kitchen Garden Planting Planning

We've spent a lot of the last few days finalizing the vegetables we'll grow this year, and how they fit into the beds. It's a complex operation, but one we'll only have to do—hopefully—a few times, before being able to recycle previous plans.

We think we're there, and just need to translate the physical plan into an action plan (that is, what needs doing each month (sowing, planting, harvesting, feeding...), and order the necessary seeds. As part of this, we've also been out to the garden centre, and picked up a few bits in their sale, including a second cake platter, and a candle set.

Out in the garden, I've turned the compost heaps, and also lifted a couple of square metres of turf to go to Liz's grandmother in Ludlow (I managed to find a non-mossy patch!). I also had a tree surgeon out to look at some of the poplars on the edge of the garden. They're getting a bit awkward, and risk losing major branches in high winds. They're also not especially attractive, and might be shading the solar panels (slightly)—and I could use the firewood. We plan to have five of them taken down in the New Year, to give some space to the smaller trees amongst them.

Lastly, the foster-children have left: it's been in the pipeline for the last couple of months, and they've moved back to live with their grandmother. Jenny and Philip are now taking a couple of weeks off, before the matching process for their long-term placement children begins.

Of Stoves and Shopping

A number of Liz's Christmas presents to me were virtual—ideas for things that I had some choice on, and which needed me to decide and order. These are quite typical, as I like having a say, and can normally find a good deal. I've been bemoaning my baking sheets for some time: originally non-stick, their coating has gradually worn and peeled, and they're decidedly unhappy. At worst, one gets scraps of coating on the bottom of one's bread roll. We've found some possibly replacements: solid silicone sheets (which, by design, will not lose coating) that go on top of metal sheets (for solidity). Also now on order is a nutcracker (a fun mushroom design: you screw a wooden plunger down into a cup, which crushes the nut: I never get on with plier designs); and a pair of welly liners (Liz loves hers).

We also spent a lot of time looking at our options for installing a stove in the sitting room. The open fire, while quite attractive burning, looks rather dull when not lit. Open fires are also hideously inefficient at putting heat into the room (20%, by some accounts, with the rest going up the chimney), and the open chimney lets cold air in, and warm air out, the entire time.

We live in a smoke-control area, which limits our choices, but we've seen a few that we like. One option is to get a back-boiler stove, and hook it into the central heating, so that we reduce our oil use and warm the whole house when the stove is lit, rather than predominantly the sitting room. No decision yet, though...

Two Christmas Days

Yesterday, obviously, was Christmas Day. However, we and Jenny and Philip decided to make it a children-oriented day, and today, while the foster-children were with their grandmother, have a grown-up Christmas Day.

Christmas Tree (© Ian 2011)

Christmas Day Part I, therefore, was predictable. The children excitedly opened their presents from Father Christmas before breakfast (when we arrived). While Liz and I cooked lunch, the five of them (and the dog) went out for a walk (cooking lunch wasn't so selfless!), and we ate when they got back. As for the last couple of years, I dismembered the turkey (an enormous 15lb bird), and we only roast the stuffed breast—the rest will be used up over the coming weeks, having been frozen. As normal (apologies for the immodesty) it was very tasty; it's much better cooked this way, as the time/temperature can be designed for the breast, without worrying about getting a balance for the whole bird. After lunch, tree presents (the children's) were opened, admired, and played with, and we watched both the Gruffalo's Child and the Snowman (a staple). We'd gone round yesterday evening to sing carols, and previously watched the Gruffalo, so we've had a good number of child-friendly activities.

Today, Part II. Jenny and Philip came over for brunch, after the children had gone (the stollen we cooked on Christmas Eve). We tried a pork recipe for lunch, roast in cider with pears, and with a very good chestnut stuffing, which may become a regular recipe. Otherwise, presents were opened, mince pies consumed, and hot berry cordial quaffed. I think the cordial is a great success, and very enjoyable. We'll have to make at least as much next autumn, once we see how far this batch goes. It's very frugal in mixing, as you only need a small amount per mug, and we do have about 3 litres.

The decorated fireplace (© Ian 2011)

Preparatory Baking

We spent most of today baking, having spent yesterday, the first day of our holiday, cleaning and tidying. I managed to break my bike (blown out rear wheel), so I've had to order a new wheel, but there you go. Today has been an extravaganza of cooking; stollen for breakfast on Boxing Day, gingerbread houses (presents), bread, mince pies, and muffins (as in breakfast muffins). The mince pies use mincemeat made on New Year's Eve last year, and is delicious.

Gingerbread Village (© Ian 2011)

The village is for the foster-children, hence there being three houses, and three figures (I'm particularly pleased with the reindeer, though I say so myself). Royal icing does make surprisingly good mortar...

Hedging

Our hedging plants (for alongside the septic tank, along with the willow that was delivered last week) has arrived. It's a combination of several species, chosen to give a quick-growing low (3-4ft) hedge, but productive. There's two hazels (a purple filbert, and a Pearson's Prolific), and a few each of cornelian cherry and myrobalan plum.

Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas)are only edible ripe, but they can then be eaten raw (a sour cherry/cranberry), dried, or cooked into jam. Myrobalan plums (Prunus cerasifera) have similar uses. They both ripen in late summer, or into September. Hazels need no introduction!

We'll heel all of them in, possibly in an out-of-use vegetable bed, until we can cut and dig the bed they'll go in—that might, in reality, not be until February, although the weather's so mild that it could be next week!

Gladioli Lifted

We had to lift some of the gladioli to free up pots for the dogwoods, etc; we've now taken the rest up, too. They haven't really died back, but it's getting cold enough to worry that they might freeze. I hadn't realised, but it's almost exactly the same time that we did so last year. They're in the workshop, rather than the garage, so hopefully they won't freeze in storage, and will be planted back out in April or May.

Christmas Party

We had a few friends up for the weekend, as a Christmas celebration. Much food, games, and carol-ing, and more food, including this gingerbread house.

Gingerbread House (© Ian 2011)

Lots of fun, and a nice way to continue the run-up to our holiday.

In garden news, our seven new fruit trees arrived on Friday, and we've heeled them into a barrel to wait for holes to be dug. They are:

• Pears
• 'Williams Bon Chrétian'
• 'Beth'
• Apples
• 'James Grieve'
• 'Egremont Russet'
• 'Falstaff'
• Cherry 'Summer Sun'
• Plum 'Victoria'

Also arrived were our Midwinter Fire dogwoods, and red, gold, and osier willow (for hedging next to the septic tank). The dogwoods are now planted up in pots with lemon cypress, ivy, and primroses, in the front garden, which has livened it up enormously.

Lastly: here's that reindeer photo I promised.

Reindeer from the Cairngorms Reindeer Herd (© Ian 2011)

Pickling

We pulled up the last of the beetroot at the weekend, as we thought they were unlikely to grow, and the weather's turning colder. They're all a bit small, so we decided that they'd be best pickled, as accompaniments for salads next year. Accordingly, we boiled them, rubbed off the skins, then bottled with hot spiced vinegar (which immediately turned red!). While we were about it, we've also done a kilo batch of hot pickled onions. We prefer them this way: you pour boiling water on them, peel them, then cook them in spiced vinegar for 7 minutes before bottling while hot. Less crunchy, and very tasty. They'll be ready in a few weeks.

Unfortunately, the weather station's had a blip, and lost the data for the last four weeks, which is a pain. Should be back to normal soon, though. The weather's turning very windy, and cold, which it'll be interesting to record.

All Lit Up

As planned, we spent today putting up the Christmas decorations. They're restricted to the ground floor, but do extend through it... There are lights in the sitting room (where the tree is, too) and dining room, and fir and holly everywhere. Anyway: it all looks very festive. I'll take some photos, but now I'm going to bed!

Busy Morning

We're out this afternoon, so we had a busy morning tidying up outside.

Liz has now weeded all of the fruit beds, and I've finished repairing the netting. I haven't replaced the cord at the ends of the raspberry beds, but that's looking much less urgent: all of the net-to-net joins are now done with weather-resisting polypropylene cord.

We've pruned the gooseberries, though not the currants. The gooseberries have sprawled rather, and have pretended to be creepers or groundcover, so we've carefully tried to cut them back to suitable buds to avoid the same thing next year. They still look bigger than this time last year, so we should still get a reasonable crop.

We took up the last of the beetroot, the turnips that have done something (there are about four more that haven't really swollen: we'll see if they get anywhere), and collected some kale, sprouts, a celeriac and a leek. Definitely into winter veg production now!

The rhubarb has now arrived, so we planted them (enriching their spots with compost; they'll have another mulch in the spring). We now have four Timperley Early (right hand); three Victoria (front three on the left), and three Suttons Seedless (back three on the left). They don't look like much (anything) at the moment, but will hopefully spring into life next year.

While out there, we've also removed all of the sprinklers from the irrigation system: they're better avoiding freezing, and we won't need them for the next few months.

Microgenerator

Slightly ahead of schedule, our solar PV panels and kit have been commissioned. They finished yesterday, and the system's managing to generate today, despite bad weather, which is pleasing.

PV Panels being installed (© Philip 2011)

It's a full 4kWp system of Sanyo HIT panels, coupled to an SMA Sunny Boy inverter. The FIT application (for microgeneration payments) is being processed, but as of today we should now be electricity-negative (we ought to generate about twice as much electricity as the house consumes). Of course, because we use power overnight, and when it's gloomy, we can't match supply to demand, meaning we'll still pay for electricity — but the power we generate will find a use elsewhere.

Autumn Winds

Another wind-swept weekend, blowing 20mph most of the time, and gusting twice that. It's not made for a hospitable garden, so we've been limited to weeding the blueberry bed (very much in need of it) and starting to repair the fruit nets. I've done the four ends of the gooseberry/blueberry/currant beds, and the mid-length joins in the gooseberry bed. That leaves two mid-section joins (blueberry bed), and the raspberry beds (which comes to four ends and two joins, but are tricky because the beds are so tall). That's for another weekend.

In preparation for Christmas decorating (scheduled, as normal, for the first weekend in December), we thoroughly tidied the house, and I finally managed to replace the locks on the back door (long overdue: I could only lock the door from inside, right handed (and, occasionally from outside—only if left-handed: bizarre), and put up the new lights in the dining room and hall. We got these to match the lights in the sitting room, but it's taken a while to get round to installation.

Reindeer

Every year around now, the garden centre has a visit from the reindeer herd on the Cairngorms. We visited them when we were in Aviemore in 2004, and now try to go to the reindeer parade when they visit Huddersfield.

Reindeer from the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd (© Ian 2011)

That was yesterday: today, we installed the irrigation system in the 'new' strawberry/rhubarb bed that we finished in August. We then planted it with strawberries, at a wider spacing than in the old bed: about 1' between plants, in rows 2' apart; equal numbers of Honeoye, Cambridge Favourite, and Florence. We also (belatedly) cleared the foliage and debris in the old bed, prompted by the fact that a deer has been climbing in and grazing. No, really. Droppings were found in the bed.

That's now tidied, and hopefully the new strawberry plants will settle in quickly. The rhubarb should arrive any day, so it's good to have the bed ready. Irrigation for the rhubarb won't be sprinklers (like elsewhere), but drippers adjacent to each crown. Rhubarb's badly designed, as the leaves deflect rain (or sprinkled water) away from the crowns—which actually need quite a lot of moisture. Hence, drippers. No rush, though: there's not much chance of them dehydrating over the winter.

The compost bin is now pretty much over-flowing, so I need to get round to turning them soon.

FreeSat

We've had the weekend at my parents', which was a welcome, relaxing break. Before setting off yesterday, we planted some spring bulbs, though. 30 fluted tulips, 30 praestens multiheaded tulips, and some more tête à têtes (in pots, to go into hanging baskets in the spring). They're all outside the back door for now, and we'll move them around when they're up.

After the analogue television signal was switched off in September, we've been without TV. We hadn't really had television since moving in, because the signal's awful—we've been surviving on recordings provided by Liz's parents, and holding on to see if the digital switchover improved the signal. It didn't; at least, not enough (we borrowed a digital set to check). The options were to improve/amplify the existing aerial, get Sky (no thanks), or get FreeSat. The house had an existing Sky dish, but we had no idea whether it was functional.

However, we plumped, in the end, for FreeSat, on the basis that it would definitely work, where Freeview only might work (even with expensive new aerial (and fitting) and amplifier). However, that left the installation... So, up the ladder went I, and loosened off the dish and pointed it in the direction of the Astra satellite. In theory, that's the same alignment as Sky...but it wasn't where it was pointing previously. What the previous owners were watching, I have no idea.

It was really straightforward, in the end, and the old dish and LNB (only a mono) are connected to the Humax FreeSat box and working really nicely. It's been foggy all day, so it should be reliable, as it's worked today. At some point, I intend to change the LNB to a duo or quad, and run a second cable to the box, so that we can record two channels at once (rather than one), but that'll wait.

Clearing, Cake, and Compost

After seeing half a dozen surveyers, and speaking to dozens of companies, we've settled on a solar panel installation. It'll be a 4kWp installation, taking up about half of the roof, and should be installed at the end of the month. Now we just hope there's no snow.

The decision process has taken up a lot of the last few days, along with surveys and so on, but it's been worth it (I hope). Nonetheless, we've also managed to do a first pass of leaf clearing, bagging them up into bin liners for now (after being unable to make more chicken-wire cages). I've turned the compost heaps, and added a large quantity to the first pile, as we've now taken down the top-growth of the peas and beans.

We've transplanted the dozen winter cabbages ('Frostie') to their final location, and done a bit of weeding. Unfortunately, we've not had a chance to repair the fruit cage nets, which should probably be a priority for the next few weeks.

All of the elephant garlic, garlic 'Germidour', and over-winter onions ('Summer Gold') have now come up, and seem to be doing well. The strawberries appear to have attracted a deer, and have been a bit trimmed: hopefully they'll recover. The sprouts are ready to start, which is fun; however, the frosts did (as expected) kill off the courgettes.

We also managed, yesterday, to make our Christmas Cake (bit earlier than last year), as well as a pumpkin pie (conversely, a bit late!).

Solar Panels

Another frost, yesterday, and more time spent clearing the cotoneaster. The plants we set out to remove this time are now gone, probably representing 40% of the bed cleared. It's unveiled two hebes (which I've cut almost entirely down, to see if they rejuvenate: no tears if they don't), and revealed a silver birch and rhododendron that were previously emerging from the cotoneaster canopy. The latter's a bit leggy, but we'll see how it does.

Having cleared the cotoneaster, we've immediately used the space to plant out the large number of perennials that have been in pots for up to the last 18 months, so hopefully they'll be a lot more content. At the same time, we planted 160 tête à tête narcissi, and 50 Iris reticulata 'Harmony' from recent orders.

We also had an appointment with a renewable energy company, as installation of photovoltaic solar panels is, now, pressing. We're not sure, though, about their quote, so we're going to be hitting the phones over the next few days to get something sorted rapidly.

Tonight was our normal garden centre's annual Christmas launch event. We're not, normally, keen on starting Christmas in November, but we make an exception: mostly because of the mincepies and wine, and the fact that there's 15% off (almost) everything on the night.

I'm always surprised how little use people make of this: we always get a few routine things as well as anything festive that catches our eye. This year, as well as an illuminated Christmas thing (photo in a month, if I remember), we picked up some willow trellis, some ivies and skimmia, and a quince.

I am uncannily excited about the quince. I've wanted one for ages, but the 'right' variety wasn't available from the nursery where we bought our other fruit trees. A bare-root 1-year maiden can, with searching, be had for about £20 (plus delivery). Obviously, that's smaller than a three-year tree, but they usually run to £35-40. However—and here's the really pleasing part—the garden centre had kindly sent a '50% off an outdoor plant' voucher to me (part of their loyalty scheme). Restrictions on its use did not encompass fruit trees, which I suddenly realised while browsing heucheras. Off to the end of the yard we went, and found a 'Leskovac' or 'Serbian Gold' 8 foot, 3-year-old tree: £19.

Serbian Gold is very hardy, and produces heavy crops of apple-shaped fruit—or so I am hoping. In a year or two, I'm hoping to make some marmelo, and quince jelly, and a very exciting apple tart.

Frosty start

The first frost of the autumn—later than expected. We're off this week, so we've got a nice long list of things to do; inside and out, depending on the weather. Today we re-started clearing the cotoneaster. We began in August last year, and got far enough to use the space to empty the nursery bed in order to make the vegetable garden.

Sometimes I feel like it's all a puzzle, like the chicken/fox/grain riddle. Never mind.

Anyway; we've set too, once more, on clearing the brush. We're dumping it on the future position of the pond, rather than carrying it all down to the bottom of the garden. It's much faster now, and it means fewer extension cables on the chipper when we come to shred it.

Inside, I put up the shower curtain, and a thermal blind in the kitchen (as it's getting cold and dark).

Horse-sitting

We've had a busy day, going into town for an infrequent shopping trip. I'd hoped to pick up another 10m of chicken wire, to construct some more leafmould bins. Unfortunately, no luck, but otherwise successful if prosaic: a shower-curtain rail, a bag of mortar (for repointing), a contact-lens appointment, and an engagement ring repaired.

This evening had firework displays going off around the valley, and as the neighbours were out, I had to spend some of the evening keeping their horse company (he doesn't like fireworks, predictably, and there was a display in a nearby garden). Only fair, he provides lots of manure for the garden.

Morning Mist

Lovely mist in the valley this morning (sorry, no tripod): it disappeared really quickly, though.

Nothing to report from our garden from the weekend: we were visiting Hazel and Alex. However, really good fireworks, a week early (to avoid competition), and fun with sparklers.

They also introduced us to asparagus peas (a legume, but a different genus to 'normal' peas and beans). I think we'll give them a go next year: they're ground cover, nitrogen fixing, and seem to yield well. The peas are nice sautéed or stir-fried. We also had some runner beans which they'd allowed to mature. Similarly, we might try leaving some bean plants to mature, and collect the beans for drying, rather than freezing all of them (relieves strain on the freezer, if nothing else!).

One Last Chutney

We're trying to get the hill-side apples turned into purée or similar as quickly as possible, as they're starting to go over. The freezer's groaning at the seams!

With some of the apples, though, we thought we'd make some more sloe chutney. Just a small quantity, as we only made one batch of sloe gin last time, which doesn't equate to much chutney. The sloe gin has been decanted, and is much better than last year. I think it's a combination of harvesting the sloes earlier, and freezing them before making the gin. Which means it's probably time to get out there and collect a pound of sloes for this year's gin.

Accordingly:

• 10oz sloes, stoned (8oz)
• 8oz chopped apple
• 8oz soft light brown sugar
• large onion, chopped
• 12fl oz white/distilled vinegar
• 8oz raisins
• ½tsp chilli powder
• ½tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• ½tsp salt
• 2fl oz orange juice

Chutney's easy: bring that lot gently to the boil, and simmer until it's suitably thick. That quantity only took about 20 minutes.

We also made a batch of pickled damsons, which are better described as spiced damsons (the vinegar disappears, and the spicy fruity sweetness is much the dominant flavour). Recipe to follow...they're very good as a spoonful on top of yoghurt...

Winter Hanging Baskets

The last order needed for the winter hanging baskets arrived this week, so once we'd popped to the garden centre to buy ten white winter flowering heathers (Erica x darleyensis Silberschmelze), we were able to plant these. Out came the geraniums and verbena (geraniums repotted to over-winter, and verbena cuttings taken), and in went a bronze sedge, two heathers, five cineraria (previously in the hanging baskets on the arbour), and two candy-cane oxalis (O. versicolour: picture by Tanakawho). The oxalis are extremely unprepossessing: about 10mm long, and 5mm diameter, and shaped like a miniature shallot. Here's hoping they do something!

We also planted the baskets of paperwhite narcissi that we enjoyed over Christmas 2010. We spread them over several plantings last year. It didn't seem to make much difference, so we've done them all at once.

The fruit tree order I mentioned last weekend is now placed, so in a couple of months we'll receive seven fruit trees, some hedging plants, and a dozen Midwinter Fire dogwoods.

Wet Weekend

It's been decidedly autumnal this weekend, making an end to the reversion to summer. It's drizzled or rained throughout, and the wind's waxed and waned.

However, it was still a very pleasant weekend, as we had Alan and Ann visiting. We played rather a lot of Settlers (Cities & Knights, which was new to them), and rewatched Serenity, warmed by our first fire in quite a while. The chimney drew better than I remembered, and half a dozen logs kept us nicely warmed. The plan to install a stove has been rekindled, as a result.

We also made a batch of elderberry vinegar, with the last of this year's berries. This was a simple affair: an inch of berries in a big pan, generously covered with distilled/spirit vinegar. This was simmered for twenty minutes, and then squished through a cheesecloth and rebottled. It's meant to be good for salad dressings, or for adding to casseroles or roast meats' glazes. We shall experiment.

We've almost finalized an order of fruit trees and hedging, which will be good. Also recently arrived was thirty 'Firecracker' primulas, which are now in the troughs outside the porch, and a dozen mixed heucheras (to pep up the front garden). We've also got some bulbs on order from Parkers that should be arriving soon...including a couple of hundred daffs, and about 50 tulips. We also need to start planting the Paperwhite narcissi, in order to have them flowering at Christmas. We meant to do some on Friday, but it didn't happen!

Late Season Harvests

Thanks to an unseasonably warm week, we're still finding ourselves with salad leaves to pick. I'm sure the plants will either irrevocably bolt, or die in a frost, before too much longer, but for now, there are still salads to be enjoyed.

We've also managed to collect about 8kg of blackberries, which is better than we've done for the last couple of years. All into the freezer for now (which is starting to bulge at the seams), along with apple purée that we've been making in batches. The courgettes are still going, but the peas have pretty much come to an end, and the runner beans have slowed. I think we'll find that the summer harvests are over very soon. However, that just means we can start looking forward to the leeks, celeriac, turnips, and winter leaves.

The Summer Gold onions and Germidour garlic that we planted a fortnight ago are now sprouting (about half, anyway), and the spring onions have begun to germinate. There's no sign of the elephant garlic, yet, but that's buried twice as deep, so it'll take longer to emerge.

Less excitingly, I repainted the rest of the inside window frames (a job started a month ago), and discovered that the windows in the garage and workshop need some attention. I think they'll muddle through the winter, but next spring I think I should re-mortar them, and probably replace some of the putty/mastic.

Clare College Gardens

As well as going round St John's, we also went round the gardens at Clare College, which we tend to do during most of our Cambridge visits! In my reckoning, they're the finest of the college gardens.

Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

We've been, I think, three times this year, and this room has been planted differently each time. It started with hyacinths, changed to forget-me-nots, and is now a tropical melange, with some striking bananas in the centre.

The beds elsewhere have also changed each time; testament to the gardening team's hard work! Their herbaceous perennials are always beautifully supported, and growing well, which I'm always envious of.

Dahlias in the river-side bed, Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

Asters, Clare College Garden (© Ian 2011)

Dahlia (identification welcomed!), Clare College Gardens (© Ian 2011)

Quincentenary

We spent the weekend in Cambridge, to visit friends, and our old college, St John's. The college was founded in 1511, and in celebration of its centenary has held a number of events, including a 'Quincentenary Week' this past week. There were several exhibitions, which we went round, as well as dinners, talks, and tours earlier in the week.

The Old Library, St John's College, Cambridge (© Ian 2011)

The old library was built in the 1620's, and forms a range of Third Court. It was added to in 1990, with the New  Library. The Old Library is home to the college archives, and a huge collection of old texts: on display at the moment are documents relating to the foundation of the College.

Signature of Lady Margaret Beaufort, My Lady the King's Mother (mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, and foundress of the college), on instructions to her executor (St John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester) (photo © Ian 2011)

The Senior Combination Room (North Range of Second Court) (photo © Ian 2011)

The Hall, set for dinner (photo © Ian 2011)

Compost Heap Jelly & Spiced Berry Cordial

Yesterday, we boiled up a bag of frozen citrus fruit hulls and peelings, and apple cores and peelings, which I've been storing as they were 'created' for several months. This makes this jelly extremely frugal, as it uses the left-overs that would otherwise go straight on the compost heap, and the only paid-for ingredient is sugar.

Once the pulp was squeezed (yes, a cardinal sin in purist jelly making, as it won't be perfectly clear: I prefer to have ten jars of 'murky' jam, than five of clear jelly!), we added 1lb of granulated sugar to every pint of juice, and boiled it to setting point. Granulated, as the fruit is about as pectin- and acid-packed as it comes (citrus fruit and apple cores!). The result is a fruity and marmalade-like jelly, with a faint floral hint (those mischievous elderflowers that came with the oranges and lemons from the cordial), and is delicious. Thank you, River Cottage Bites.

The other thing we started yesterday was the spiced berry cordial. Having left the fruit mush to break down, I squeezed every drop of juice possible out, and added 500g of sugar for every 1kg of fruit we started with (in this case, 3kg), making 3l of liquid. We added two cinnamon sticks, 20 cloves, and 2 tsp of each of ground ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. This is brought to the boil, and simmered for five minutes. I then bottled this, hot, into warmed screw-top bottles: with the heat, and the sugar, I think it should keep just fine until Christmas.

The East Parterre at Witley Court, with box edging (© Ian (2011))

In my break for lunch, I took about three dozen cuttings of the heritage box we bought at Witley Court. It's a bit late in the season, but there you go.

First Stages

A fairly productive weekend, mostly spent in the kitchen, preparing the first stages of several preserving recipes!

Yesterday we mixed up the ingredients for a 6lb batch of mincemeat, using the new apple crop. It's really well in advance—we made the mincemeat for this Christmas back on New Year's Eve, so the batch from this weekend will only be used Christmas 2012. As before, it's the Gary Rhodes/Delia Smith recipe, modified to go in the slow cooker for six hours (rather than a low oven for several). That happened today, after the ingredients had sat overnight, and the result is magnificent. It's filled the kitchen with Christmas spiciness whenever we stirred it. Brandy (blackberry) will be stirred in tomorrow, when it's jarred.

In a break between showers, we nipped out to planted the over-wintering alliums. About 45 'Germidour' garlic, a dozen elephant garlic, and 110-odd Summer Gold overwintering onions. Before planting them, I dug in a few trugs of compost. Alongside, we've sown a few rows of White Lisbon overwinter spring onions, in the hope of an earlier crop of scallions.

It was dry first thing today, so we quickly gathered a kilo of elderberries, to combine with blackberries, damsons, and bilberries from the freezer to make a spiced berry cordial. It's about 50% elderberries, 25% blackberries, 20% damsons, and 5% bilberries, to a total of 3kg. To make the cordial, we've made up to 4.5l with hot water, and boiled it down to 3l (that is, reduced by a third). I'm leaving it overnight, and in the morning, I'll stir in some pectolase (to break down the fruit and release the juices). Once squeezed through muslin, the juice can be sweetened and spiced, and then bottled.

We also cooked up a big bag of citrus fruit hulls, and apple peelings (tasty sounding, no?): these have been collected over several months and frozen, and include the slices of orange and lemon that went into the elderflower cordial (and a few elderflowers). Covered with water, and simmered for an hour, I'll squeeze this tomorrow as well, and then make it into jelly.

Lastly—and lately—I strained the hedgerow wine that I started a week ago. The pulp (sloe, elderberry, blackberry), in a gallon of water, has been fermenting since Monday, with the aid of pectolase and yeast nutrient, and has now been squeezed onto 1.3kg of sugar in a demi-john. Fermentation, predictably, has picked up a notch.

More Green Manure

Just a short, and fairly mundane note: I dug over the space where the second-cropping potatoes had been (until earlier this week), and the last few meters of where the main-crop potatoes where, and have sown both with the last of the green manure seed.

The second-croppers came out, because they were starting to look sad, many of the Vivaldi had flowered, and most of the Orla had failed to come up. On digging over, it transpires that the Orla had decided to grow two new tubers (at the inevitable expense of the seed tuber disappearing), without the benefit of foliage. From all forty seeds, we probably only lifted about 2kg of tubers. Not exactly a success: we almost certainly won't trouble ourselves with second-croppers again. However, the Vivaldi showed no sign of scab, so they might be a contender for first-earlies next year, depending on taste.

Only nine of the Frostie spring cabbages we sowed about a month ago are doing well, so I've also sown ten more. The turnips from the same date have been badly attacked by mice and slugs, which is disappointing; it's now too late to sow more.

The elephant garlic and over-wintering onions have arrived, so we'll plant them at the weekend: we're still waiting for the 'normal' garlic.

Chutney, Jam, and Wine

Having collected the apples on Thursday, we've got on with making this year's chutney. We enjoyed the Grandma's Hot Apple Chutney we tried last year, so we did a double batch of that (12 jars). Instead of the basic apple chutney, we made a batch of the National Trust's Windfall Chutney (not with windfalls, but never mind), which was another 8 jars. A statutory batch (5 and a half jars) of mango chutney (another 850g tin of kesar mango puree!) followed; I think the spice blend worked better. We then tried a spiced elderberry chutney (cooked and sieved berries), which is extremely purple-red (5 jars). The Windfall Chutney has a couple of tablespoons of turmeric in, so that's rather yellow, making this years jars quite colourful: the Grandma's Hot is quite molasses-y, the Windfall is yellow, the mango orange, and the elderberry strongly anthocyanin!

We'll do a round of mincemeat next weekend (it requires an overnight steep of the ingredients), which will use more apples—the rest will be eaten as they are, or made into puree for cooking or eating.

One of our neighbours was given a large quantity of greengages, which were surplus to her requirements, so she gave us a few kilos. As a result, we've tried a new recipe, for greengage and almond jam. The greengages defrosted brown (they went in green), but it doesn't appear to have mattered. They also didn't require stoning before cooking, contrary to some instructions—though that did mean Liz had to keep vigilant watch for stones while to cooked, fishing them out as they floated. It's very tasty, and reminiscent of a marvellous gooseberry jam we made some years ago. Not too sweet, with a good 'plum' flavour.

To round off the preserving weekend, I started a batch of Hedgerow Port: elderberry, sloe, and blackberry wine. Nothing unusual: 800g blackberries, 300g sloes, and 400g elderberries, crushed, with 4.5l of boiling water poured over them. I added some pectolase once it'd cooled a bit, and yeast will go in tomorrow. The must'll ferment for four-five days, and then I'll strain it onto sugar in a demi-john.

The elderflower and elder rosé wines look like they've slowed considerably, so fermentation may be nearly complete. I'll probably leave them for another few weeks, then rack them.

Apple Harvest

It's a bit earlier than last year, but we picked the apples from the hillside. I think it comes to about eight big shopping bags full, which should be plenty for the recipes we've got planned. Making chutney is planned for the weekend; we might do some jam at the same time. It's that time of the year when there's loads of freezing, preserving, and bottling!